USA Today Bestseller!
Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. … undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.
Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
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Loved the quirky characters and unique story!
From the moment I picked up this book, I knew there would be no putting it down until I reached the end. The characters are funny, beautiful, and pop-off-the-pages relatable. And it was an absolute pleasure going on this wonderful journey with them. It’s a book that makes you smile and get teary-eyed thinking, “So this is love.”
After two publishing houses merge together, each CEO from each company has their own assistant. Lucy and Josh share an office and are very nosy of what each other is doing. He’s the neat freak and she’s the slob. Can these two ever stop their games and fall in love? Snarky thoughts and quick comebacks from Lucy’s point of view keep Josh on his toes. What is it with this guy and his shirts?
I loved this book! It tells the story of two work colleagues who are mortal enemies, but eventually come to realise that they more than like each other. I love the enemies to lovers trope and book delivered/.
In the beginning, I really wondered how they were going to end up together. They just seemed to hate each other that much. The snippy dialogue between them had me stifling laughter so I wouldn’t wake my husband sleeping beside me.
The work conventions where much of the story takes place is great – anyone who works in an office will absolutely get it. Who hasn’t been tempted to fiddle with a co-worker’s desk just to mess it up.
As soon as the tides turned, and the passion is ignited between them, I furiously read the book, devouring each page, desperate to find out just how they would find their way to each other.
All in all, a refreshing book that follows a well loved trope, but is anything BUT stereotypical.
Ooookay. I get it now.
The reason this book has been so popular is clear, now that I got it from my library and was unable to stop tearing through the pages until I finished. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll try.
In short, Lucy and Joshua are executive assistants who share a workspace, sitting outside the doors of their respective bosses who co-run a publishing house after a merger.
Lucy hates Joshua and believes he hates her, too. The whole staff knows this, and fears getting hit by the shrapnel of one of their battles.
Then a few things happen: a chance at a promotion they would both be perfect for, an office event that shakes them out of their traditional interaction, a personal interaction that shakes them even more, and–finally–a bit of perspective that helps them see each other without their walls up.
This book is sexy, yes (the tension can be cut by a very sharp letter opener), but the characters have solid backstories, layers that add dimensions that make us as readers want to not only review what we thought we knew about them earlier in the book, and become impatient to see where they end up.
It’s fun, moving, tingly, funny, and introspective. Really well done.
This book is a guilty pleasure. It is the kind of book I would call bad under certain circumstances. Boy hates girl, girl hates boy, but there’s undeniable chemistry and irresistible sexual tension between them. Girl is short and feisty, guy is tall and cold. It has cliche written all over it. Except for one tiny detail: I enjoyed it.
I can’t even pinpoint exactly why. Yes, it was hilarious. Their mind games are intriguing and the thoughts inside Lucy’s head are often ridiculously funny. Josh is cold on the outside but surprisingly sweet and protective on the inside. However, the relationship between them is the kind that sets off alarm bells in my head. Josh is a bit possessive (given their lack of label) and sometimes a little too mean. Lucy is a bit clingy and freaks out way too much. But ironically, they’re just the perfect match. I don’t how, I don’t know why, they just are. Maybe because in the end, you understand the reason behind it all.
All things cliche aside, what I really loved about this book is how Josh challenged Lucy to stand up for herself and stop pleasing other people. On the other hand, Lucy challenged Josh to see him for who he truly is and not for what he thinks other people see. He also didn’t mind being rescued by Lucy which really matters in my book. Because not all girls are damsels in distress and it doesn’t make you less of a man if you’re the one in need of rescuing.
Despite how much I enjoyed it, I am knocking off one star for all the times that it was predictable and cheesy. But if I’m being honest, it deserves half a star more for that ending. I truly did not expect it and it couldn’t have ended in a better way.
Overall, this is a book that is enjoyable if you look at it as a whole. Leave your judgment at the front page and read it for what it is. Maybe you’ll find that it truly is a pleasure. A guilty pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless.
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I cannot give this book enough stars! I enjoyed this so much!
The Hating Game was recommended to me by a friend and I’m so thankful that she did as this is such a fabulous and lovely enemies to lovers read.
I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the interactions between Lucy and Josh who work in the same office.
Lucy is the girl that everyone loves. She’s warm, kind, helpful and gives her all in everything she undertakes.
Josh has a bit of a reputation and it’s not a good one! He’s not liked by many people as he’s cold, ruthless and heartless….. or is he?
The author made me feel totally guilty of my initial feelings about Josh. The saying is to ‘never judge a book by its cover’ and I totally did with him, and I can imagine many other readers did too. I really do love a story that has an affect on me and has me thinking long after I’ve closed the book. I must remember to consider that maybe there are reasons for someones actions- a lesson learned!
This story will have you feeling all the emotions. I laughed, cried and was sitting on the edge of my seat at times. I would have loved more of Lucy and Josh’s story, and that’s because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them both – one sign of a great read! I would totally recommend for you to read this book, as I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Narrated by Katie Schorr
Standalone. Contemporary Romance.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne has been on my radar for a while, but I never got a chance to read it. I was in the middle of it when the movie casting news came out I didn’t even know there was a movie, so I was even doubly glad that I was listening and LOVING this book!
Lucy and Josh work for a recently merged publishing house and they each work for the CEOs of the original companies. The culture of the 2 companies in the merge are complete opposites, but nobody is more opposite than Lucy and Josh. She is adorably sweet and cute and wants to be liked. He is a gorgeous asshole who never cracks a smile and lives a rigid, disciplined life. They are already rivals at work.
“I type my password: IHATEJOSHUA4EV@. My previous passwords have all been variations on how much I hate Joshua. For ever.”
When a new position is announced, both Josh and Lucy are the main candidates for the job. The rivalry ramps up a notch, and we are privy to the hating game between them. The whole office knows of their rivalry – they have both called HR on each other numerous times. But Lucy will not tolerate Josh ever beating her, and worse, whoever gets the promotion would be the other’s boss.
“I should mention that the ultimate aim of all our games is to make the other smile, or cry. It’s something like that. I’ll know when I win.”
It’s easy to hate Josh and love Lucy at first. And that is what the author intended with having only Lucy’s POV through the book. Had we known what Josh was thinking, the whole book would have been VERY different.
“What are you imagining? Your expression is filthy.”
“Strangling you. Bare hands.”
“So that’s your kink.”
“Only where you’re concerned.”
I love hate to love romances the most because banter is my favorite thing in a novel, and the Hating Game had a ton.
Once we get to know the good behind the Joshua Templeman facade, it was impossible to hate him. I looooovvved him!
“Shortcake.”
“Stop calling me Shortcake.”
“Watching you pretend to hate that nickname is the best part of my day.”
If I wanted to pick apart the story, honestly there are a few things that don’t sit right with me, but overall I listened to the whole thing with a goofy smile on my face, loving every second. The pacing, the slow-burn, the character development, the dialog. All of it just worked perfectly.
“The first smile Joshua’s ever had in my presence is pressed against my lips.”
Likes:
•I listened to the whole story with a goofy smile on my face.
•It was sweet, fun, sexy, and hit me in the feels.
•The characters were very realistic – they had real lives outside of each other.
•I love that Josh is perfect because he works his ass off at it, not just naturally like most heroes.
•Lucy’s dad – I loved his support for her and his names for Josh.
•Never felt like it tried too hard to be quirky and cute, it just was.
•Though I wish we got a little in the epilogue, having only Lucy’s POV really worked perfectly for this book.
Dislikes:
•There were a couple of things that were built up throughout The Hating Game, yet never materialized in the story, like Josh going to his dream destination (I don’t want to spoil anything) and Lucy’s actual presentation. One major plot point was left unfinished.
•The end felt a little abrupt, in fact, the second half of the book didn’t have quite the same flow as the first half.
•No epilogue!? If ever a book needed one, this was it.
•I wish there was a way to have gotten a little of his POV, either through the epilogue or maybe a note. I love that we didn’t get it a lot, but just a hint would have been nice.
The Narration:
Katie Schorr could not have been more perfect for the role of Lucy, but she definitely needs speeding up. I loved her!
The Down & Dirty:
I LOVED The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. It has everything I love in a book: banter, humor, romance, heat, and heart. I loved the slow burn. There were a few things that bothered me in the story (see my dislikes) but my overall feel for the book is “Holy shit! I loved that and can’t wait to listen again before the movie comes out.” An epilogue would have made an already great book into almost perfection. I am so excited to see this The Hating Game come to life on the big screen with Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell.
Rating: 4.5 Stars, 3.5 Heat
Oh, how I relished this book. I love slow burn books and office romances. I enjoyed this so much, I have already read this twice.
Lucy and Josh share an office space, both executive assistants to the co-CEO’s of the publishing house B&G. And they hate each other. They have all these little games they play, snapping at each other. It is told from Lucy’s POV and I wish we would have gotten a bit of his side as well. Lucy is very small (5 ft small) but she stands up against big Josh with snappy replies. Everything changes when it is announced there will be a COO appointed and they are both in the running. Lucy finds she is not immune to Josh, especially when he shows another side to him while tending to her when she is sick. But how does Josh feel about her? Lucy is a bit naive when it comes to that 🙂
He calls her ‘Shortcake’ for crying out loud (Lucy is from a strawberry farm and he is obsessed by it).
The slow burn is delicious, so is the way it is written. The love scene is so sexy without being too explicit. It is really making love and not just sex. Marvellously done. I do wish there was an epilogue or that the author would give us some snippets of the future in a novella or something. I needed something more!
It is the debut for Sally Thorne and I look forward to the next (2017)
Excellent read. So much fun to read. Great characters and the interaction between them is hilarious.
The Hating Game is a Rom-Com through and through. And it’s an absolute gem. If you only choose to read one F/M feelgood lovestory this year, this should be it.
This is a super funny and easy-going read. There are plenty of sarcastic exchanges and hilarious hating games. And apart from the obvious entertainment value of the book, the characters aren’t only likable and relatable, they’re suprisingly imperfect in a very real way which is quite unusual for this genre. Sure, all Rom-Coms feature flawed main characters, that’s what makes them human after all. But unfortunately, in this genre at least, those imperfections often border on silly or over the top for humor’s sake. In The Hating Game, Lucy and Josh suffers from the same insecurities occuring in all new relationships – romantic or otherwise. And most importantly, love is not the cure-all for said insecurities or unattractive personality traits.
There isn’t much more going on in this story apart from the love-hate relationship between Lucy and Josh. There are no side-stories or particularly interesting secondary characters. And generally, that would lower my overall impression of the read. However, the main story is so good that it doesn’t matter one bit. Which is a testament to Thorne’s excellent storytelling abilities.
So, The Hating Game is essentially the perfect read if you’re looking for romance, wit, snarky banter and also unexpectedly 3-dimensional characters. This is my first encounter with Sally Thorne’s writing, but if The Hating Game is anything to go by, I’ll definitely check out her latest 99 Percent Mine.
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blog.se/
(Read Sept/2016)
5++ FANTASTICALLY FUNNY AND ROMANTIC STARS!!
The Hating Game was rom-com perfection. I truly tire of these cliche’ and overused phrases in reviews, but I’m going to say them anyway: “I couldn’t put it down!” and “I never wanted it to end!” I can only hope that Sally Thorne’s sophomore effort isn’t too far down the publishing pike. When I have such an emotional and physical response (irrepressible joy, multiple character empathy, innumerable LOL moments, and dopamine-addled romantic euphoria,) each subsequent book I read pales in comparison. The Hating Game is going on my keeper shelf next to my short list of all-time favorite rom-coms by Penny Reid, Jennifer Crusie, Mariana Zapata, and literary classic, Pride and Prejudice.
I hardcore love a good enemies-to-lovers romance, and this book had me on the edge of my seat! It was funny, sexy, and smart. Highly recommend!
I’d give The Hating Game 10 stars if it was possible! This outrageously bitter, office rivalry will have you laughing out loud, so I highly suggest not eating or drinking while you read.
The banter between Josh and Lucy is at an all-time high. With moments you’ll want to tell your friends, because you’ll honestly still laughing about it days after you’ve read it.
I’m not a huge contemporary romance reader. I tend to find the predictability of contemporary life too boring. There are only so many family dramas, friend meltdowns, dinner dates, drinks and picnics budding romantic couples can have before I fall asleep, which meant I only picked this one up because a friend told me to. And I’m glad I did. There was so much in this book to keep me avidly turning the pages. Our two main characters aka shortcakes and Josh are delightful enemies to lovers in this smart, witty romance. I’m a sucker for the enemy to lover trope and Sally does a fantastic job of setting them both up as an opposing dynamic oozing plenty of sexual tension. Most romances tend to share the POV load between the male and female, but this one’s all her and I found it refreshing for the most part. Their were both well developed and lovable characters, but I do have to make a smidgeon of an exception. Lucy (shortcakes) was full of witty sarcasm and one liners to the point that by 3/4 way through the book I was needing a little normal conversation from her. Also she became just a tad too dramatic in her inner monologue and at times I wanted to escape her head. But that aside, the two are gorgeously vulnerable toward each other while desperately trying to hide it. Oh and did I say it’s great writing? Really good. Worth a read for any romance lover.
The Hating Game was just… I wish I’d squeezed it into the rotation sooner but I also wish I could read it for the first time all over again. This might be my favorite enemies to lovers story ever and EtoL is my favorite trope….This book is SCRUMPTIOUS. Sidenote: my dorky brain explicitly insisted on giving Lucy and Josh Australian accents. So that was fun.
So, I’m on the fence about this book. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne was cute but also had way too many clichés. It was really a hit or miss at times for me.
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman are two executive assistants at a publishing company. They were both forced to work together when the two rival publishing companies decided to merge, making their bosses co-CEOs. Most of their days are spent verbally sparring and antagonizing one another.
Slowly the two start to form a blossoming attraction to one another. The unravelling of their interest in each other and the love-hate relationship that develops makes this story whimsical to say the least. Like I said, it was cute.
Cuteness aside, I had some serious issues with the clichés that littered this book. Let’s start off with the predictable “sick scene”. Lucy becomes dangerously ill and who comes to her rescue? Joshua, our handsome love interest who has been nothing but horribly mean to her for page one. He drops everything to bring her home and take care of her. I mean seriously takes care of her — have you ever met a man willingly drop everything to cook, feed, change your clothes and CLEAN your house when you’re sick? But yet, through all of this, their affection starts to form, with Joshua’s cold heart melting with every dry-heave Lucy has in her bathroom. Seriously?
One of my biggest, I mean HUGE, MASSIVE, pet-peeves in a book is when the heroine of the book is characterised as silly, flighty, thoughtless, maybe even scatterbrained. Someone who is described with the title of executive assistant to a co-CEO should not be portrayed like this. I’m not even going to get into the fact that because Lucy is work-obsessed, more of these quality and quirks start to appear later throughout the book when she beings to fall in love with Joshua.
With these clichés off my chest, I can truly say, I did find myself savouring this book. I was occasionally smirking and giggling over the dialogue, the secondary characters were comical at times, and yes, even the sex scenes made me blush. It had some seriously raunchy descriptions, I mean it was no 50 Shades of Grey, but soccer moms sure as hell could get worked up over this book!
This is Sally Thorne’s first published book, and for me, it showed. Things could have been better in the predictability and cliché department, but for a first time publisher, ‘Ya done good kid!’ All things considered, like the characters in the book, I had a love-hate relationship with The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.
Read my full review here: https://bit.ly/2Wl0GpG
What a fun read! Very entertaining and witty. I adored the story and the characters.
A delicious enemies to friends romance!